Pollen from four common new world mangroves in jamaica

Pollen descriptions of four common mangrove species Rhizophora mangle L. (Rhizophoraceae), Avicennia germinans (L.) L. (Avicenniaceae), Conocarpus erectus L. and Laguncularia racemosa (L.) Gaertn. f. (Combretaceae) are presented. These species dominate the mangrove communities in coastal wetlands in the Caribbean and their pollen is common in peat cores taken from such deposits. The identification of the pollen grains is fairly easy as the four species investigated have characteristic pollen, however it is difficult to distinguish between Rhizophora mangle and Laguncularia racemosa pollen when found in fossil material. Pollen from Conocarpus erectus and Rhizophora mangle tend to be over‐represented in pollen diagrams as these plants are prolific pollen producers and their pollen is probably wind distributed.